Comic Book Day: Pull List for January 23rd, 2013

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Ready or not, here comes Comic Book Day, and this week’s pull list has some terrific titles ready to lower your personal debt ceiling to Hobbit-sized heights. With the second half of Chew, the arrival of Marvel NOW’s Uncanny X-Force , and more, it’s a good week to make the trek down to your friendly neighborhood comic book store. So go ahead and take a break from your mild-mannered work week and take a gander at this week’s copious cache of comics. As we say around the office, “Microsoft Excelsior!” Huh? No one says that? I’m being escorted off the premises? And tased? Okay, fair enough.

Top Picks

Uncanny X-Force #1 | Sam Humphries and Ron Garney

I really wanted to just write “’nuff said” and leave it at that, because I’m not sure why there would be any question over whether or not to pick up the first issue of Marvel NOW!’s Uncanny X-Force. This was one of my favorite books of the past year, so when I spoke to Humphries about his approach to the X-Family’s blood-soaked stepsister and his answer was “MUTANT NINJA NOIR,” I was understandably excited. And rightly so. Humphries has assembled a squad of femme fatales (and their manservant Puck) to do less-than-righteous battle with facial tattoo aficionado Bishop, and Ron Garney’s art is grade A. So go ahead and unfurrow your brows; this may be a new X-Force, but it’s one with which you’ll be excited to spend time (and go on black ops). Oh, and if you weren’t sold already, Storm has her badass mohawk again, which is the icing on an already delicious cake.

Masks #3 | Chris Roberson, Dennis Calero and Alex Ross

Maybe Francesco Francavilla primed the pump for pulpy goodness in my brain, but I’ve been consuming gritty, pulp noir comics at an alarming rate, and, fortunately, the industry is feeding my need. Masks is one of the better crossover books I’ve come across; it’s succinct, well-paced and full of enough intrigue to keep me coming back each month. The heat on this slow boil gets turned up this week, as the heroes split up to divide and conquer, and increasing numbers of average Joes don masks of their own to join the fight against fascists in the homeland. While it may not be as tidy of a package as last week’s Black Beetle: No Way Out #1, Masks #3 delivers a heapin’ helpin’ of your favorite pulp heroes in one convenient place. The Shadow knows that this will definitely be in my pull list.

Chew #31 | John Layman and Rob Guillory

Let me start out by saying that if you’re new to Chew, then issue #31 is a terrible place to hop on the the funwagon. After the unexpected twists, turns and untimely demises in #30, the second half of the series kicks off with a funeral. You’ve got to hand it to Layman – what started out as a goofy, offbeat comic filled with food puns and sight gags has turned into a really gripping story full of heartbreak, loss and grief. That being said, this issue isn’t all sad times at Ridgemont High; we return to the action-packed, dark humor-laden, cibopathic narrative that we’ve come to love, and the visual gags are top-tier. You may want to do a second pass just to note all the little background details that Guillory packs into the pages because it’s just that damn good. I’m just grateful that they didn’t subtitle the second part of the series Chew: Swallow.